An unwelcome first for VC65

I have claimed Tinea pellionella caught in the house on three previous occasions but not taken photos or kept specimens.  I caught this one during the evening of 29 June and eventually managed to get a photo without letting it escape, and this time dispatched the moth to Charlie Fletcher for gen. det. confirmation.  As usual, Charlie got back to me without delay confirming that it was indeed what I suspected and was a first for VC65.  The fact that the common name for this moth is Case-bearing Clothes Moth does make this a rather unwelcome addition to the house list.

12.027 Tinea pellionella Case-bearing Clothes Moth

And so it continues....

What with a very poor start to the year weather-wise and a recurrence of health issues, the first six months of the year have just been on hold.  However, things have started to improve and a visit to Brafferton VC62 on Wednesday 16th June proved to be one of those purple patch nights, despite having to pack up quickly due to forecast dawn rain showers.

I had my usual MV Robinson in the 'camp' area, 160MVB over sheet in the parking bay and trialled two 5w LED bucket traps dotted in the vegetation on the main track.  The two MV produced broadly similar  numbers and species with the two LED's pulling in a small number each (still more than not bothering at all.).

A total of 261 of 71 species, so unexceptional numbers, but there were several good micros among the haul.  The best was a Pammene ignorata which immediately struck me as significant, and was despatched to Charlie who had gen.det. the three previous Yorkshire records, and this one too was confirmed, also as a first for VC62.  

Pammene ignorata

Another moth of interest was a rare moth nationally, and what appears to be only the 2nd record for VC62.  This was an Apomyelois bistriatella which has a preference for heathy areas, although this is not a habitat for which Brafferton in known.  

Apomyelois bistriatella

Apomyelois bistriatella

The next moth of interest was a fine colourful tortrix moth which I eventually narrowed down to a Gypsonoma oppressana, which even Harry said he had never seen such a colourful version.  It was interesting in that I had claimed one from Kilburn, also VC62, back in 2014, a much more typical monochrome specimen, which is also now accepted and becomes a new for VC62 predating a later accepted record.

Gypsonoma oppressana

Gypsonoma oppressana

Gypsonoma oppressana, Kilburn, VC62, 11 Jul 2014

I include a couple of macro moths, not because of their rarity, but just fabulous examples of how beautiful a 'brown' moth can be.

Mottled Beauty

Scallop Shell

Hopefully, further trapping possible in the near future.

Where one species becomes three...

Not a huge amount to report over the last month except a few more leaf mines which I will summarise at the end of the year but the opportunity to attend a days training on moth genitalia dissection proved most worthwhile.  I had taken four specimens of November Moth agg. from my last trapping attempt on the night of 20th October at Sunbeck Wood, Brafferton Spring.  I used the training opportunity not only to brush up on technique but to also dissect the four specimens I had.  The first three appeared to be males of each of the three species, so instead of November Moth aggregate x 3, I can now record singles each of November Moth, Pale November Moth and Autumnal Moth.  The fourth turned out to be a female sp. which cannot be done.  Although this proves that each of the three species do occur at this site there is no way of knowing the proportion  of each population without a much larger sample.  I am not interested in taking any more specimens at this site, just knowing and proving each occur is good enough for me.

November Moth

Both of these photos were taken by iPhone down a microscope eyepiece so despite not being of the best quality they are enough to show the salient features.  The photo above shows the complete male genitalia and the easiest feature is the two upper dark points on the anal plate that are well spread apart (not the pair of lower points on the valvae).  Compare that with two inward pointing and much closer dark points on the plate (minus the rest of the genitalia) of what is clearly a Pale November Moth.  I neglected to get a photo of the Autumnal Moth...however it is obvious in that there are no spurs at all on the valvae. 

Pale November Moth

There is often uncomfortable questions asked about the validity of taking specimens. I am very conscious of all such concerns but console myself with the fact that very selective specimen taking is essential to identify some species and that conformation of presence is valuable in conservation terms.  The very tiny number taken is probably far fewer than the numbers killed by driving a car at night.

I did attempt a couple of micros but it was soon very evident that my ability did not stretch to such small genitalia, so for any important micros I may still have to defer to the vastly superior expertise of Harry....